This invention relates to a wall-mountable dispenser for rolls of toilet paper. More particularly, the invention relates to a decorative housing which is easily and quickly mounted on a wall, and which has an interior chamber having tracks upon which a spool extending through a toilet paper roll can rotate.
Many different toilet paper dispensing devices have been used over the years. As homeowners become more concerned with decorative items for bathrooms, toilet paper dispensers have assumed various configurations and colors. Most dispensing devices have certain common features, however, including a rotating spool extending through the hollow core of the toilet paper roll around which the roll rotates as the tissue is dispensed. Examples of prior art dispensers include Wheeler, U.S. Pat. No. 438,567, and Sifferman, U. S. Pat. No. 1,772,917. The Wheeler patent discloses a wall-mounted roll holder having a small spindle which extends axially through a roll supporting spool travels downwardly and rearwardly in channels of a mounting bracket as paper is removed from the roll. The bracket also includes a locking mechanism to preclude the roll from being removed until all of the paper has been used up. The Sifferman patent describes a mounting bracket having telescoping arms which act as spool mounts to suspend a toilet paper roll outside of a wall cavity until the roll is reduced in size sufficiently to enter the cavity. The arms can be folded and secured inside the center portion of the toilet paper roll when the roll is placed into the cavity.
The invention contemplates a simple, easily manufactured, yet decorative toilet paper dispensing device which completely encloses the roll, thereby precluding its contamination by dust or water. The continuous sheet of paper is threaded through an oval opening in the front of the housing. The roll is mounted on a spool having rollers on each end that engage tracks mounted on the interior of the housing; the tracks are inclined forwardly to maintain the roll at a forward portion of the housing as the roll is depleted. Individual sheets of paper are easily torn from the roll without spinning the spool because of friction between the housing and the forward potion of the roll, and between the edges of the sheet being removed and the opening or slot through which the tissue extends.
Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to provide a toilet paper dispenser which is easily and inexpensively manufactured, and which may be quickly wall mounted by a purchaser. It is another object of the invention to provide a decorative toilet paper dispenser which substantially entirely encloses the paper roll, but in which is easy to replace paper rolls and to remove segments of paper. It is yet another object of the invention to provide a toilet paper dispenser which automatically adjusts to a decreasing roll size. These and other objects of the invention are accomplished by the paper dispenser of the invention, a preferred embodiment of which is disclosed herein.